Nilsson, Sound Tigers shut out Wolf Pack

Updated 1:07 am, Saturday, December 21, 2013

HARTFORD -- That, Scott Pellerin said, is the Anders Nilsson they remember from his best games.

Nilsson's vintage 33-save performance carried the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to a 3-0 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack at the XL Center.

"He looked to be dialed in," Bridgeport coach Pellerin said. "He was seeing the puck very well. He was tracking it. He didn't give up a lot of rebounds. He made big saves when we needed him to."

Bridgeport needed a bunch of them in the first 23 minutes, facing four power plays. Nilsson had almost 20 saves by the time those were over.

"I made some lucky saves in the first period, and they gave me some confidence," Nilsson said, recalling a shot under his arm that bounced fortuitously away instead of in the net, and a shot between his legs that he didn't see that hit him.

"We started off a little rough. We didn't play our game in the first period, a lot of turnovers, a lot of penalties. I thought in the second and third, we were the better team."

Mike Halmo scored a power-play goal in the second period. Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored on a breakaway, led out by Scooter Vaughan, early in the third and later set up Anders Lee's deflection.

With the game scoreless, Halmo was downright robbed by Hartford goalie Dov Grumet-Morris on a power play midway through the second. Halmo, in the left circle, appeared to have a wide-open net, but Grumet-Morris dove to his right to get his goal stick on the hard shot.

"That's one of the best saves I've ever seen, him coming across like that," said Pellerin, who played 12 pro seasons and has coached in eight more.

Bridgeport put five or six more shots toward the net on that shift, then got another power play when Aaron Johnson, taking a hit from Halmo after Johnson laid one on Matt Donovan, was called for slashing.

Lee found Halmo, again, at the back door. Grumet-Morris had no chance at this one.

"There's been some times I've had chances like that, and it's hit a stick, or (the goalie) has made a save," Halmo said.

"The most important thing is not to get negative, not to get down on yourself, and keep going."

Nilsson kept making his own solid saves, including two or three off a turnover early in the third period.

Last weekend, after four weeks in the NHL, Nilsson returned to Bridgeport with 26 saves and came 12.6 seconds away from a shutout against Providence. He got the zero on Friday, his third for Bridgeport to go with one as a New York Islander two years ago.